


We are Hunted

by Cheshire_Hearts



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 14:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1188108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheshire_Hearts/pseuds/Cheshire_Hearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren, Mikasa, and Armin find themselves hunted by three mysterious hunters who claim to be on their side and wish to aid both Eren and Mikasa in controlling their powers.</p>
<p>Snk Fantasy AU where Eren is half wood elf, Mikasa is a Manakete, and Armin is human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We are Hunted

The boy peeked around the corner of the stone building. He didn’t see his pursuers and let out a silent sigh before turning back around to face his two friends. He looked at the two of them in the shadows and shook his head steadily. The blonde let out a quiet sigh and visibly relaxed against the cool walls. The girl didn’t let her guard down, but kept her eyes focused on the gap behind her dark haired friend.

“It’s okay I didn’t see them,” he whispered and sat down next to the blonde. “Armin are you okay?” He asked ignoring his other companion.

“It’s not too deep so it’ll be fine for now.” He said and gave a weak smile.

“They only started attacking us because of your outburst in the last village.” The girl said and looked right at him.

“Will you give it a rest Mikasa, I said I was sorry.”

“Sorry won’t cut it, you could have gotten Armin killed back there Eren, get your powers under control.”

“I’m trying!”

“Quiet both of you, I don’t want them finding us before we get rest. Eren’s powers can only distract them so much, and they’re too powerful for Mikasa to take on alone.”

“I can do it if it means protecting Eren,” She said and glared over at the opening.

“I don’t think they’ll come at us from there,” Armin stated and unwrapped the bandage around his lower left arm.

“What do you mean?” The other boy asked looking back at the opening worriedly.

“Think about it, this is a narrow place, they can’t dodge the blasts of raw magic Eren uses, but they also know that Mikasa and I could get caught in the backlash of it and get injured, so they know Eren’s next to useless here. Also they know Mikasa is strong, but I’m pretty sure they don’t know she’s a Manakete yet, so that gives us an upper hand, but at the same time it wouldn’t work well in this terrain. They probably don’t know I’m human, so they’ll be wary of both Mikasa and myself.” Armin explained as he grabbed a few herbs from his bag.

“I’ll grind them and put them on your wound for you Armin.” Mikasa said and took the herbs out of his hands.

“So from what you’re saying, they won’t attack us until we leave?”

“No, I think they will most likely strike either at nightfall or at dawn when we’ll be at a disadvantage in both cases, and they’ll most likely strike us from the rooftops. One might come from the alleyway, but I doubt it.”

“It’s done Armin.” The boy nodded and held out his arm for her to spread the paste over the cut. He flinched, but tried to hold as still as he could. “I think we should stop worrying about that, we need to rest for a short time and then put as much distance between them and us as we can. That way Armin’s wound can heal faster and none of us will be in too much danger.”

Eren looked over at the girl. It was obvious how her mind worked; it was focused on survival and protection, and he was glad for that. There were plenty of times when Armin’s smarts had saved them, but Mikasa’s instincts were almost never wrong and both him and the blonde trusted them. He looked over at Armin who now seemed more tired than before.

“I agree with Mikasa, we need to leave after nightfall, so I’ll start to sleep now.”

“If you need I can carry you a short way, I want to be useful every once and awhile. That and it’s my fault you’re injured Armin.” Eren looked at his feet for a moment before looking back at his friend whose eyes were already half shut.

“Eren, you and Armin should get some rest, I’ll watch for a while. Your power uses up a lot of energy, so you’ll need more sleep to be able to carry Armin if you want to.” He nodded and sat down next to his friend. It was cold in the shadows of the building and to make it worse the stones around them were both wet and cold. He shifted and nestled into the blonde, closing his eyes he tried to sleep even though he knew it wouldn’t work. He heard Mikasa moving around, but tried his best to ignore her and just rest for as long as he could.

. . .

“Eren . . . eren,” Mikasa called gently to her friend. The boy moaned and turned away from her voice, hiding his face in Armin’s neck. “Eren get up now.” She said and grabbed his arm. His eyes slowly opened and focused on her face.

“Mi . . . kasa? What is it?” He asked and sat up rubbing at his eyes tiredly.

“We need to leave now,” she began to pull him to his feet when a shadow moved over them. Both looked up at the rooftops, but there was nothing to be seen above them. “They’re watching us right now, grab Armin and let’s go.” He nodded and picked the blonde up carefully with Mikasa’s help. Armin made a barely audible protest to the sudden movement as he was placed on Eren’s back.

“Okay, let’s go now.” He said and started to follow Mikasa into the narrow alleyway. They quickly made it out of the alleyway and down a side street where they slipped into another alley. The entire time both felt concealed eyes following their every move.

“Mikasa, how long was I asleep for?” The boy asked when they stopped in the alleyway.

“A few hours, not much though, we need to get out, but they’re only watching us for now.”

“Maybe we should wake Armin up and see what he thinks about the situation?” Eren asked cautiously.

“No, he needs to sleep right now, he isn’t like us Eren. Don’t forget he’s human.” Mikasa’s words pierced through him; he knew he wasn’t human, he knew and it was still painful to face that fact. “We should keep moving for now, but I wonder why they are just watching us.” She looked up at the rooftops, her eyes roaming over them.

“Who knows, but we should get going, Armin’s getting a little heavy.” She nodded and started to run down the alley with Eren following closely behind her. They avoided the main roads and kept to the shadows, alleys, and side streets, but they still felt followed no matter which way they turned. They stopped in an alleyway on the far side of the city to catch their breath.

“I’m putting Armin down for now,” He said and carefully lowered his friend onto the damp ground. “Damn it! We can’t get anywhere like this!” The boy glared angrily at the ground.

“Eren-”

“I can’t believe this!”

“Eren, calm down, we’ll figure something out, but for now we should rest while they aren’t attacking us.”

“We should move on, that would be smarter.”

“And risk them attacking us when we’re tired and hungry?” She asked and Eren fell silent. “I know it’s not the best solution, but there isn’t much else for us to do, so let’s just wait until sun rise.”

“Hey, that’s a pretty good idea,” a voice said from out of the darkness. Eren and Mikasa turned towards the sound quickly and saw a small figure coming out of the shadows at the far end of the alleyway. Mikasa instantly moved in between the new person and Eren and drew a short sword.

“Eren, grab Armin and go.”

“I’m not leaving you,” He said and drew his own sword.

“How admirable,” a higher, feminine voice said from behind them. Eren spun around to face the new intruder and saw the tall silhouette of the woman in the faint moonlight. “Come on, we don’t want to fight.” She said and walked closer to them.

“Yeah, but you still want to kill us,” Eren snapped at her and stepped in between her and Armin. He knew it wouldn’t be too long before Mikasa, Armin and him would be trapped within the small confines of the alleyway and eventually killed.

“Don’t get too upset about it, you are monsters after all.” The man from before said and stepped closer to them, the silver of a blade caught the moonlight as he approached them. Eren gritted his teeth and looked back at Mikasa, she shifted her eyes over to him and he nodded in Armin’s direction. She feinted a run at the man as Eren sheathed his sword and scooped Armin up in a single movement before bolting out into the open. The woman was ready to strike him down, but the boy changed direction quickly and sprinted down the road. Mikasa was right at his heels as the fled through the open street before they cut into another side street.

“Run faster Eren!” Mikasa yelled at him.

“I can’t! It’s hard to hold him like this and run.”  
    “Shit! We’ll have to fight then!” She yelled as they burst out of the side road and into the main plaza. “I’m going to do it!”

“Wait Mikasa! Don’t!” He yelled and pivoted on his foot as he stopped. Their two pursuers ran into the opening, weapons drawn as they rushed the girl. The crimson stone that hung around her neck glowed brightly for a second before something fell from the rooftop on top of her. “Mikasa!” The boy screamed as he watched in horror. The man that had landed on her had her pinned to the cold ground and his two companions ran towards Eren and Armin.

“Careful Levi,” the woman warned as her glasses caught and reflected the moonlight in a harsh glare.

“You don’t have to warn me shit glasses,” he replied sharply. Eren let the blonde slip to the ground as he stepped forward ready to draw his sword and fight.

“Eren don’t!” Mikasa yelled and thrashed under the weight of the man on top of her. Eren looked over at her for a second and caught her wild and terrified eyes. He froze when he realized there was a sword at his neck. It was the short man from the alleyway who stood between him and Mikasa with a blade touching his neck. Fear seized him for a moment as he looked down on the man whose silver blue eyes seemed to glow.

“Wait Levi, they don’t want them dead yet.” The calm voice resonated within the plaza from where Mikasa had been. Eren took his eyes off of the blade and looked over at the blonde man who had tied Mikasa’s hands behind her back in the short amount of time since she’d been pinned down. His body trembled with anger as he glared at the man.

“That’s too bad,” The woman mutter silently. She was leaning over Armin, her fingers pressed against his neck. “He won’t last much longer.” She seemed to pout and looked at her two companions. Eren froze again, his eyes moved over to where Armin was and stopped.

“What did you do to him,” his voice shook.

“It was only a  poison to subdue monsters like you.” She said and stood up taking a few steps towards Eren. He wanted to kill her suddenly, but for some reason he couldn’t move. He was frozen in fear, whether it was from the short man in front of him or Armin being on the edge of death he didn’t know. He clenched his fists, his body shaking from the anger and fear within him.

“He’s human!” Eren yelled at her, at all of them. He felt tears well up in his eyes, everything Armin had always smiled and talked about, all of his dreams and hopes came into Eren’s mind suddenly. “He isn’t like us, he’s human! How could you!” The three enemies seemed shocked at the news, but Eren didn’t notice, he didn’t notice Mikasa screaming his name, didn’t notice his opponent drop his sword and pull out a dagger, and he didn’t notice Armin opening his eyes and looking at him in horror. He felt power forming inside of him, the same one that always did when his emotions got out of control. He could control it this time, he was certain of that. He would kill the three with it, even if he couldn’t save Armin, he could avenge his friends short life.

Pain blossomed within his stomach and the surge of power he had felt vanished into thin air. He looked down and saw the man with the silver blue eyes pull a short dagger out of his gut. Eren screamed as the pain hit him and collapsed onto the ground. Mikasa screamed and tried to fight out of her bonds and the man's grip on her arms.

“Levi wait!” The woman yelled as Eren closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the blade to fall into his heart. The strike never came.

“Please don’t do this!” A familiar voice yelled. Eren’s eyes snapped open and he looked up at the back of his best friend. “Please, he doesn’t know what he’s doing! He can’t control it, and we don’t understand what’s going on with him, but I swear he never meant to harm anyone! Eren’s human! He’s always been one!” Armin yelled, his body trembled with the effort to remain standing.

“Look at his face and tell me he’s human.” The man said with an edged voice.

“Levi let’s just calm down for now and hear them out.” The woman said and reached out for Armin, “You shouldn’t be standing, but I’ll have to agree with Levi that the boy isn’t human. Just look at him.”

Armin turned and looked at the horrified face of his best friend. Eren’s eyes said everything he couldn’t find words for in that moment: What’s wrong with me? I’m human aren’t I? Armin closed his eyes tightly after looking into his friends face. It was true, Eren’s features had changed and didn’t look exactly human anymore. His eyes had become slightly more angular and feline like, his cheekbones were more prominent and higher than a humans, and his ears had become longer and pointed. Even his hair had grown out slightly.

“He’s human,” Armin insisted looking straight into the other man’s eyes fiercely. “For as long as I’ve known him, he’s been human. Who cares what powers he has, who cares if he’s half woodelf. That’s no reason to hunt him, Mikasa and I.” They stood there, their eyes never moving from the other’s face. And then, Armin collapsed to the ground.

“Armin!” Eren and Mikasa screamed in unison as he fell. Eren tried to go to his friend, but found a bloodied knife at his throat and froze. The woman had rushed over to him and was quickly looking through the bag at her hip. She found a vial of aqua liquid and gently picked up the boys head before opening the vial and letting the liquid fall into his mouth.

“There, he should be fine in a few days.” She said and looked at Eren and Mikasa with an apologetic tone.

“Levi, for now we need to leave this place, it’s almost dawn. We’ll take them with us and get to the safe house before doing anything else.” The blonde said steadily and walked up to them. Levi turned away from Eren and noted the girl glaring at him from a few feet away on the ground. He looked shocked for less than a second before he changed his face back to the blank stare he normally wore. The blonde man kneeled in front of Eren and extended his hand. “My name is Erwin,” he pointed to the woman who had taken off her thick cloak and wrapped armin in it. “That’s hanji and the one who hurt you is Levi. We weren’t sent to kill you, just capture you, so I’d like it if we could agree to you three coming with us for now.”

“It’s not like they have much of a choice,” Levi muttered and looked back to Mikasa who was still glaring intensely at him.

“Fine,” Eren spoke quietly. “We’ll go with you.” He glared at the blonde man as he shook his hand.

“Good, now let’s go. We have a good place to hide you for now. Levi, I’ll leave the boy in your hands.” The short man looked over at Eren, his face showed no emotion aside from the look of complete boredom at the thought of having to watch someone constantly. “Hanji, I’ll leave you in charge of the girl for now, and I’ll take the other boy to the horses. It’ll be easier if I carry him there.” Erwin moved away from Eren and walked towards Armin swiftly as Levi and Hanji moved to their charges.

“I can take Armin.” Eren said, still glaring at Erwin. There’s no way in hell I’ll let them take Armin.

“And what can you do about it?” Levi asked looking down at Eren. “You’re wounded, you have no strength left to carry him, and you’re at my mercy.” Eren glared at him, but he knew it was true; there was nothing he could do about it, he just had to go along with it.

“At least untie Mikasa.” He said quietly and looked at the ground.

“I’ll untie her,” Hanji said and gently began to untie the ropes around the girls wrists. Mikasa rubbed at them after her hands were freed, but never stopped glaring at her three opponents. Eren looked up at her nervously as he shifted his weight. The wound in his stomach hurt and he absent mindedly reached for it.

“Don’t touch it, you’ll make it worse.” The dark haired man said as he slapped the boys hand. Eren looked up at him shocked.

“It’s your fault,” he spoke carefully and tried not to glare at the man.

“Oh? You’ve got some guts brat, I’ll give you that.” Eren opened his mouth to retort about how they were on the ground instead of inside him, but thought better of it and just closed his mouth. Levi pulled off his cloak and dropped it over Eren’s shoulders. “Stand up and cover your face, it still doesn’t look human.” Eren pulled the hood over his face and couldn’t help but touch it to see what everyone was so hung up over. He didn’t notice a difference at all. “It’s not anything aside from your eyes and ears that give it away.” Levi said and began to walk away. “We don’t have all night, so let’s go.”

Eren stood up shakily and started to walk. His stomach hurt and he placed his hand over the wound; it was oozing blood. Mikasa walked over to him, slightly limping, and locked her arm under his own and helped him walk.

“Are you alright?” She whispered.

“More or less.” He responded and looked at the shorter man’s back. Hanji was walking a few steps behind them and Erwin had already disappeared with Armin a while ago. “Do I really look that different?” Eren asked with fear in his voice.

“Eren-”

“Don’t lie to me Mikasa,” He said and looked at her. She looked at the ground as they walked.

“It happens every time you use your powers.” She whispered before quickly adding: “But it changes back after a while.”

“I don’t care if it goes back, the point is I might not be human at all.”

“No you are, just not completely human, it’s just like what Armin was saying. You’re human inside, and that’s all that matters right now Eren.” Mikasa smiled at him. There she goes again, he thought. She’s always trying to protect me, but I guess she’s right, and I’m pretty sure Armin would say the same thing to me.

“I really hope Armin is okay,” Eren muttered and looked at the ground.

“He’ll be fine,” Hanji spoke up from behind them. Eren hadn’t noticed that she had started walking next to them. He looked up and noticed Levi was looking back at them curiously. “It’s not that serious actually, he’ll be wide awake later today.” She smiled at them and Levi looked in front of him again.

“We’re almost there.” He said.

“Hey it looks like your face is going back to normal.” She smiled at Eren as she looked under the cloaks hood. “It’ll return to normal by the time the sun rises I think.”

“Don’t give him too much hope Shit Glasses.” Levi said over his shoulder and walked out into an open field. There were three tall horses all standing around tied to the oaks that crowded the outskirts of the city. Erwin was untying the tall grey one when they walked out of the alley. Eren looked around for Armin and found him propped against one of the trees. He seemed fine for the moment.

“We’re here Erwin,” Levi announced and stopped walking. The man looked up from what he was doing.

“Good, Levi take Eren on your horse, I’ll take the other boy with me and Hanji can take the girl.”

“His names Armin,” Mikasa almost growled at him. Erwin looked at her and nodded before throwing the reins over the horses neck and placing Armin on the horses back. He quickly mounted and spurred the horse into a canter and headed away from them.

“Let’s go.” Levi said and grabbed the cloak Eren was wear.

“W-wait! Where are we going!?” Eren yelled and started to slightly panic.

“Eren calm down.” Mikasa said quietly as she followed Hanji over to her horse.

“Shut up and get on the horse,” Levi said and pushed Eren towards the black horse. Eren looked at him cautiously, trying to ignore the new pain in his stomach. Levi eyed him when he didn’t move to get on the horse. “Are you just going to stand there? We don’t have all morning so hurry up already and get on, you little shit.”

Eren flinched but turned towards the horse. He took his hand off his wound and felt blood drip from his hand. He carefully climbed onto the horse and placed his hand on his stomach once more. He caught Levi staring at him and looked away quickly. The man threw the reins over the horses head and jumped up behind Eren, grabbing the reins around the boy and spurred the horse forward at the same time he pulled the reins around and cantered off in the opposite direction Erwin had gone. Hanji had already mounted with Mikasa and had spurred her horse forward to follow Levi.

“Let’s get this done quickly,” Levi said as Hanji rode up next to them. “Erwin will get pissed if we’re late again.” Hanji chuckled before she guided her horse down another rode into the forest. Levi kicked his horse in the stomach, urging it on down the cobblestone road that had seemed to appear out of no where.

“Where are they going?” Eren asked,still slightly panicked.

“Around the forest to meet up with the others.”

“Why didn’t we go with them in a group?”

Levi sighed heavily and looked around the boys shoulders. “God damn it, you’re too tall.” He muttered under his breath. Eren shifted his weight to one side and slumped his shoulders a little bit. “Stop moving around and just sit still.”

“Fine, but answer my question.” Eren demanded nicely not wanting to piss the man off anymore than he already was.

“Can’t you figure something that simple out on your own? You have a brain right? So use it brat.” Eren looked down at Levi’s harsh answer. He knew it was true, but his brain just didn’t want to work at that moment. He was tired, stressed, worried about too many other things, and on top of it all he was injured and losing a lot of blood.

“Sorry,” he muttered and gritted his teeth against the jarring gait the horse had on the hard road. His wound was painful, but he didn’t want to complain or fuse about it.

“This is the one time I’ll tell you, the other times you have to figure it out on your own. Think about it too, might as well get used to this.” Levi shifted his weight slightly and the horse slowed down a bit. “What’s the point of splitting up? Well there are three of us riding out at the break of dawn, all three of us are carrying a kid each on our horses, and you don’t find any of that strange or bizarre?” Levi asked before dropping the reins suddenly.

“I guess it would be strange,” Eren replied and timidly picked up the reins.

“And on top of that you’re all not human, well aside from the blonde one.” Levi muttered as he reached into one of the saddle bags and grabbed a piece of cloth. “This will help better than your hand will, and I swear to god if you get blood on any more of my things, you will wish we had killed you tonight.” Levi said as he pushed the cloth on Erens wound and grabbed the reins back from the kid.

Eren gasped in pain and almost doubled over as he held the cloth in place. He almost fell, but Levi had both of his arms around the kids body, keeping him in his spot. “Don’t you dare fall off,” Levi snarled at him and kicked his horse’s sides again. “We’re almost to the rendezvous point, so hang on for a few more minutes.” Eren nodded slowly and couldn’t help but lean against Levi. His vision started to blur and he closed his eyes tightly. He didn’t know if it was from blood loss and possibly the fact that he might be losing his consciousness or if it was from the speed the horse was running. Either way though, he felt like shit.


End file.
